Going Home Soon

     Breckin has had some ups and downs in the past week, but I believe that we are in the home stretch here in the NICU. After her G-tube surgery, we slowly worked up to her taking full feeds and she has been tolerating full feeds in her tube for the past several days. We do these feeds by gravity, which means that we pour her milk in a syringe that goes through her tube and it runs in over a few minutes. Before we do this, we offer her a bottle and whatever she doesn't take by mouth we put through the tube. She has been somewhat regressing this past week with her bottle feeds. It was like she forgot how to take a bottle. She was having trouble coordinating her sucks, swallows, and breaths. She would also get so agitated during feeds and would only take 5-15cc. I felt like we were starting over, and I was getting so discouraged. However, since last night, she began to take more in her bottle, and was getting less distressed during feeds. It was like God allowed her to improve at just the time when I was feeling down and discouraged.
     The other new aspect to her feeding is her obturator, which is her mouthpiece for her cleft palate. We have only used it a couple days, but so far it has not helped her. In fact, she doesn't take any of her bottle when this is in her mouth. She doesn't know what to do with the bottle when the obturator is in her mouth. She just kind of mashes on the nipple, and won't even suck. Many people have told us that it will take a while for her to get used to this. In the meantime, however, it is just very frustrating for both of us, and she does better without it right now.
   On Friday, the doctors said that if she does well over the weekend, we will be getting discharged next week. She has to be gaining weight and tolerating feeds which she is doing. We also have to do a 48-hour stay at the hospital to make sure we know how to do everything involved in Breckin's care. I am feeling so many emotions as we anticipate our homecoming. I am excited to get our family back together and to get to take care of my baby in our own home. I am also nervous about taking care of her and not knowing what to anticipate. When I think about the road we have ahead of us, it is so overwhelming! However, I know we serve the Most High God who is in control of everything. This is definitely not the path that we would have chosen for our family, but it is the one we are going down. I know God is going to take care of Breckin and get us through the challenging times with her. We are just so blessed to have her in our lives!

Love,
Brooke